Parents, teachers, and school administrators gathered outside Public School 321 in Brooklyn on Friday morning to protest the state English Language Arts standardized tests that had been administered to students this week.

Teachers at the popular Park Slope school criticized the test questions for being confusing and, in some cases, possibly having multiple correct answers. They also described the three days of testing itself as a disruption.

“We don’t teach to tests. We teach for good, solid learning and to Common Core goals. We’re fine with standardized testing, but these tests are awful,” said Sara Greenfield, a third grade teacher at PS 321. “Why do third graders need to sit for three days? They’re done at the end of these tests. They’re totally burnt out.”

The teachers were supported in their protest by the school’s principal, Liz Phillips, who sent a note to parents Thursday. “There was inappropriate content, many highly ambiguous questions, and a focus on structure rather than meaning of passages,” the principal’s note said. “Our teachers and administrators feel that this test is an insult to the profession of teaching and that students’ scores on it will not correlate with their reading ability. ”

The protest over the exam was one of at least two in the city Friday — another was held at Cobble Hill’s PS 29, where current Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña was once a teacher.

The protests are the latest controversy surrounding the state’s adoption of national Common Core standards, which New York began testing students on last year. Some teachers across the state have complained that they were not prepared to teach the new curriculum and that students weren’t ready to be tested on the material. Last year, tests scores in the city dropped as the new standards were adopted.

State Education Department officials defended both the exams and the test-making process, saying many teachers were involved in the development stages. “There’s literally not a single question or a single passage on our tests that have not been viewed and vetted and criticized and edited by New York educators,” said Ken Wagner, Deputy Commissioner for Curriculum, Assessment and Educational Technology at the New York State Education Department.

Joanna Cohen, 38 — a parent of a first-grader at PS 321 as well as an assistant principal at PS 2 in Chinatown — said she was concerned that students learning English struggled with the test passages.

“I was called in to classes multiple times. One child, a fifth grader, he was just sitting there, saying ‘I don’t understand it. I’m going to be held back,’” she said. “One of the teachers in third grade called me over the phone from the class, and whispered into the phone, ‘There’s a student here crying. What should I do?’”

Mr. Wagner said of non-native speakers, “We absolutely have to have not only high expectations for all students, but the same high expectations for all students, and our answer to educational reform cannot be lower our expectations depending on the unique learning needs of any of our students, including English Language Learners.”

Valerie Thiam, 46, has two third graders attending PS 321. A professor of French language and literature at CUNY, Ms. Thiam said that when she looked over some of the test prep questions, “I didn’t see the answer.”

Other parents, like Neal Rosenstein, 53, said they simply objected to the nature of the tests in general.

“It’s just not the right way for the kids to explore their learning,” said Mr. Rosenstein, who has a son in the third grade at PS 321. “I’d rather see another art class. I’d rather see a field trip.”

Corrections & amplifications: Neal Rosenstein has a son in third grade at PS 321. An earlier version of this article said his son was in first grade.